BlackFire
by Team LIGHTSWORN
Summary: Out on the African savannah one night Martin goes out for a midnight walk but he runs into a problem. Written by Lightsworn Paw and edited by Lightsworn Heka
1. Savannah Race

Disclaimer: We do not own Wild Kratts. The show belongs to Chris and Martin Kratt.

"Hey Chris!" I shouted as I flapped my wings. We were in Africa looking for a hyena cackle. "After we find the hyenas-" I was cut off by a weird laughing sound.

"Found the hyenas!" my brother called on his Creature Pod. I landed and deactivated my peregrine falcon suit. Chris drove up in the Createrra and parked it behind some rocks.

_Beep. _My Creature Pod… I pulled it out; Aviva came up on the screen. "Did you find the hyenas, Martin?" she asked.

Yeah." Chris had said that while coming up behind me.

"Excellent. Do you have the tags?"

"Yup," I said, holding them up.

"Good; zap out." I put my Creature Pod away. "So, do you want to tag first, or can I?" I asked my brother.

"Sure you can," Chris replied, handing me the remote to the flycam.

After we finished tagging the hyenas, I took a peregrine falcon feather out of my pocket and activated my Creature Power Suit. Chris came up next to me and challenged me to race him back to the Tortuga.

"You're on, bro!"

I drew a line in the dirt with my talon. Chris (in the Createrra once again) drove up to the line as I flew right above him. "On your mark…" my bro called, revving up the engine. "Get set…" I replied, flapping my wings.

"GO!" And we were off! I was still above Chris; I flapped my wings harder. While flapping, I looked down, to see my shadow moving in front of the Createrra. Guess Chris noticed this, because he sped up. Soon, I hit a pocket of hot air, making me fly higher. Tucking my wings into a stoop, I angled myself so I would go further. The savannah raced below me. Wow- I could see only blurs of creature pelts- there was a cheetah at 6 o'clock. Wait- a leopard pattern blur seemed to be following me. When I pulled myself out of the dive, I looked behind me. Bad idea- because of my slowing down, Chris was catching up! I beat my wings harder.

The Tortuga was in sight! I closed my eyes and flapped as hard as I could. When my eyes opened again, it was just in time to see the… TORTUGA!

_Ow… _I thought, hitting the side of the Tortuga. _Double ow. _That was me, hitting the ground. Looking up, I saw Chris getting out of the Createrra, which was parked next to me.

"You okay, bro?" he asked me.

"Yeah..." I said as I sat up. "Guess the Tortuga was closer than I thought!" We laughed. Then, Aviva ran out of the Tortuga, looking alarmed and yelling "What happened?" Koki and Jimmy weren't far behind. Koki explained that they heard a loud crash.

"That... was me," I replied. Aviva crossed her arms over her chest.

"What was it this time, Brothers Kratt?"

"Well, Chris challenged me to a race, and..." I went on explaining what happened. Soon, we were all laughing like crazy. After the laughter died down, I saw how late it was- the sun was almost gone!

"C'mon guys, it's getting late," I said. Chris continued "Yeah, and I'm starving!"

"How..?" I asked. "I was the one flying! All you did was drive the Createrra!" We had to laugh at that.

"Come on, you two." Aviva pushed us from behind.

Once we were inside, Jimmy asked me a question.

"Martin, are you going to deactivate, or are we going to have to eat with a falcon?" I looked down and realized that I was still in my Peregrine Falcon suit. "Haha, No I'll deactivate" I replied. I deactivated and followed the rest of the team into the kitchen.


	2. Midnight Walk and a New Friend

After dinner and some night-time horsing around, we all went to bed, sleeping peacefully... all but me. It seemed I'd caught a bad case of 'can't-get-any-sleep-itis'.

'_UGH. What time is it?'_

I looked at my clock.

'_12:32? That's the fourth time I've woken up tonight!' _

I swung my legs over the side of my hammock. '_Maybe a night-time walk will help.' _I got up and left a note in my hammock telling Chris that I went out for a short walk. As soon as I stepped out into the cool, crisp night air, it occurred to me just how HOT the Tortuga was.  
At night, the savannah is quiet.  
As I walked further into the African plains, I felt like something was following me. I tried to ignore it, but the feeling just got stronger. Then I heard someone call my name. _"Martin. Martin Kratt. Martin" _  
"Whoever's out there- come out!" I called out into the now silent night. I heard some leaves rustling. Peering into the tall grass let me make out the silhouette of a wild cat. I turned around and start back to the Tortuga. but only after a few yards I got the feeling of being followed. I turned around, and as soon as I did, I was pinned to the ground- by a leopard!  
"The stealth hunters," I whispered to myself. The leopard grabbed the neck of my shirt and start to drag me. As she dragged me i'm thinking of names for the leopard. _Blackhunter? No... Black-killer? Nah. _"Blackfire. your name is Blackfire." I told the leopard. "Blackfire? Why didn't you kill me? Leopards kill their prey before dragging it back to the safety of the tree. I mean, I'm GLAD you didn't kill me but..."  
My voice trailed off when Blackfire gave me a look that told me i should be quiet.  
After a while Blackfire stopped at the base of a tree. "Um... Blackfire, what are you doing?" I asked as Blackfire jumps into the tree.  
"OW!" I hit the back of my head against the made something that sounded like purring. She set me down on a branch and walked away to the other side of the tree.

"Um... Blackfire, I ask you again- what are you doing?" Blackfire laid down on the branch. When she looked up she stood up and stretched.

"Martin, I need your help." the leopard said. "what!" I ask falling out of the tree. Instinctively I grab the branch a was on with one hand. I grabbed the branch with my other hand and pulled myself up. I looked over to Blackfire."You can TALK?" I She got up and grabbed the back of my shirt. With help from Blackfire I pulled myself up so I could sit back on the branch. "Yes, I can talk," Blackfire sighed.  
"HOW?" I asked, in complete shock. Blackfire looked uncomfortable. "Um... I really don't know. I've been able to speak with humans since I was a cub."  
"Okay, just one more question- why did you pounce on me and drag me here?"  
"Because I need your help," was Blackfire's reply.  
"...with what?" Blackfire didn't answer me. She just looked past me instead. I turned around to see what she was looking at, but I didn't see a thing.  
"The moon is low. Go back to the Tortuga," Blackfire instructed.  
"How-"  
"No time for questions." The leopard leapt from the tree, as I dangled from the branch and dropped down onto another. From there, I dropped to the ground. Blackfire came up beside me and whispered into my ear. "I'll go back to the Tortuga with you, but I'll have to stay hidden in the grass." With that, Blackfire began running. "Wait up!" I called, taking off after the leopard. Once I caught up with Blackfire, she slowed down so that we ran side-by-side.  
"Don't tell anyone about me- not even Chris." Hold on a minute- how did she know my brother's name? When I asked her, she gave me that uncomfortable look.  
"I have no reply."  
"No... no, you can say it. You spied on me and Chris. I thought I saw a leopard on my way back to the Tortuga." Blackfire said nothing. When we had almost reached the Tortuga, Blackfire dove into some tall grass, motioning with her tail that I should follow. Once I was beside her, she said "Come back tomorrow night."  
"About that... we're planning to go to the Indonesian rainforest to study draco lizards the day after tomorrow," I told her. Her face seemed to darken.  
"Keep them in Africa as long as possible. In fact, I'll ask a friend to help." The leopard walked away. Friend? What did she mean, friend? I pondered this while taking off towards the Tortuga. '_Okay. Aviva is always the first one up, but right now, it's 4: 15. Hopefully, she won't be awake.' _ When I got to the Tortuga, I saw a light was on. Luckily, it shut off after a second or two. I waited a minute before quietly running into the HQ.  
It was pitch-black inside the main room, so I had to tiptoe through. Once I managed to reach the hallway leading to mine and Chris's rooms, I began to walk normally, while thinking of what Blackfire had said.  
_'How do I keep everyone here? What did Blackfire mean by "friend"?' _  
I finally reached my room, where I crumpled up my note from earlier and collapsed into my hammock.


	3. Falcon

**Author's Note: Paw: hey we are SO sorry for the long updates i am a slow typer and **_**Heka**_** here *pokes heka* didn't want to type **  
**Heka- Eh... *snooze* M'sleepy... Leave me 'lone... *resumes dozing***  
**Paw: *thinks aloud* hm... now where can i get a BIG bucket of ice?**  
**Heka: *awakes* YIP! Don't scare me like that! Jeez louise, I'll type for ya... **  
**Paw: hey it was the only way to get you to wake up- anyway here is chapter 3**

~3~

"Martin... Martin..." I was shaken awake by Chris. "What d'you want..?" I slurred, turning over. "I wanna sleep..."  
"Martin, wake up. It's 7:00."  
_CRASH!_  
"Owww! Chris! What was that for?" Chris had just dumped me on the floor.  
"It was so you'd wake up. C'mon, let's get breakfast." He walked out of the room, and I followed behind.  
After a small breakfast of a granola bar and milk, He asked me what we were going to do that day.  
"Hm... I dunno. Let's just take a walk and see," I suggested.  
"Okay!" Chris grabbed his jacket and ran out of the Tortuga.  
"Chris! WAAAAIT!" Chris didn't hear me, but I muttered (mostly to myself) "Where's the rest of the team?" Grabbing my jacket, I ran after him. As soon as I got outside, I looked around for him. Where had he gone?  
"Hey! Martin, come check this out!" my brother called.  
"Where are you?" I replied. He answered my question with another question:  
"Where's my favorite place to be?" if i knew my brother it would be... In a tree! I looked up into the nearest tree, and sure enough, Chris grinned down at me. I jumped into the tree and began to climb up.  
"Okay, what did you want me to see?"  
"That," Chris said, pointing out into the savannah. I looked out to where he pointed, and saw a cheetah running towards us! It looked as though it were running away from something. When the cheetah was almost on top of us, Chris noticed something: "That looks like Blur!" I began to climb down.  
"But if Blur's here, then where's Spot Swat?" Chris asked. Blur started to chirp, and who should run out of the grass but Spot Swat himself! "There he is," I told my bro. "Look- he's losing the black and white marking on his back! Hey, I just had an idea: wanna race Blur against me in my cheetah power suit?"  
"You're on!"  
Chris ran off to the Tortuga to get our creature power suits, with me following behind. When I got to the Tortuga, Chris was already coming out with our power suits.  
"Here ya go," he said, tossing me mine and walking away.  
"Thanks." I slipped mine over my head before reaching into my pocket and removing a bunch of creature power disks. "Ah, here we go: Cheetah!"  
I inserted the disk. "Now, where is that cub?" I said, looking around.  
"_OW!_" I felt a sharp pain on my leg. Looking down, I saw Spot Swat scratching my leg. Kneeling down I saw a flash of green light out of the corner of my eye. I petted the little cub and activated my suit. When the flash of blue light died down, I was in my cheetah power suit. I crept up to the place of the green light, and called out to Chris, who was now in a gazelle suit. His head snapped up.  
He ran.  
I chased after him.  
As we ran, lots of animals looked at us. When I finally managed to be gaining on Chris, I pounced! We hit the ground and began rolling. Once we stopped rolling, I pinned Chris to the ground.  
"Hey!" my brother shouted. "What was that for?"  
I laughed.  
"Cheetah Tag!"  
Chris let out a short laugh before trying to break free from under me. When I didn't let go, he struggled more and groaned.  
"Get off!" I felt his hooves push on my stomach. "If you don't get off, I'll make you!" Ow! He pushed me off!  
Chris took off as soon as he got up, with a taunt of "Catch me if you can!" The chase started again, only to be interrupted by Blur!  
"CHRIS! Blur's after you!" I called.  
"Wha-?" My brother looked over his shoulder.  
"Do the Ga-zig-zag, Chris!" I watched as Blur chased Chris every which-way across the savannah, slowly getting closer and closer to him. "Watch out! She's about to trip you with her dew claw!" Blur reached out with her forepaw, and swiped.  
What a spectacular miss!  
"Nice going, Chris!" But Blur wasn't quite finished. She noticed my bro had gotten tired.  
"Can't... run... any... longer..." panted Chris.  
Blur pounced!  
"WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANNA TACKLE ME?" poor gazelle-suited Chris shouted. "Get off, Blur!" The cheetah relented, and chirped for Spot Swat.  
"Let's get back to the Tortuga," I said once Chris had regained his footing.  
"Okay, Martin. Hey! Wanna race back?" he asked. My reply being yes, he deactivated his gazelle suit and took out a cheetah power disk. He explained that cheetah versus cheetah was a fairer match than gazelle versus cheetah. With a line drawn in the dirt and both of us wearing cheetah power suits, we were ready.  
"On your marks..."  
"Get set..."  
"GO!" I was in the lead! We kept on running undisturbed, Blur and Spot Swat following behind, until...  
"Chris, watch out! There's a ditch!" I had jumped over the ditch and was looking back to see if he made it. And... he stuck the landing! Unfortunately, another hazard was in the way, to the tune of-  
"MARTIN! Termite mounds!" Trying to dodge the mounds forced me to swerve wildly, and inwardly I praised the fact that a cheetah's tail moves to keep the cat balanced. I took another look over my shoulder to see how Chris was doing, and saw... "Wait, where'd Blur go?" The cheetah had vanished, along with her cub. Chris gave a quick response:  
"Mud wallow ahead!" Mud wallow-?  
SPLASH.  
Ugh, I had sped right into the sticky mud!  
"Yuck! Who put this mud wall- hold on a sec..." There weren't any mud wallows anywhere near the Tortuga, so... just where were we?  
"Uh, Chris? I think... we're lost. Do you know where the Tortuga is..?"  
"No, I-I don't." Chris looked frightened.  
"Well, how do we-" I started, to be interrupted by a _SCREECH_!  
What was that?  
I looked up, to find a peregrine falcon soaring above the two of us.  
"Chris, look!" I put a hand on my brother's shoulder. He saw the falcon as well.  
"Um, what's she doing here..?" Chris seemed thoroughly befuddled. The falcon, rose up higher, making increasingly larger circles.  
_SCREECH!_ Guess she found what she was looking for. The bird suddenly stopped circling and tucked her wings in.  
"Ch-chris? Don't falcons only stoop like that when they're about to attack their prey or another bird?" My brother could only manage a frightened nod. The falcon stuck a talon out- hey, wait a minute! I suddenly had a thought. Still shaking a bit, I held out my arm, to Chris's horrified cry of "Martin, what're you doing?" The peregrine falcon floated down, wings now outstretched, and alighted on my arm. She was friendly!  
"I'll name you Grayfeather," I decided. The falcon, now named Grayfeather, merely made a "Kree!" noise and ruffled her feathers, before taking off and flying circles around us. "Hey, I think Grayfeather wants us to follow her!" I said, turning my brother.  
"Yeah, but why?" Chris questioned. I started walking.  
"Never mind that- follow that falcon!"  
And follow Grayfeather we did. Once, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dark pelt of a leopard.  
_Blackfire! _She lifted her head and looked right at me as I returned the gaze. But when Chris caught my attention with a call of "Martin?", she disappeared back into the grass.  
"Where's Grayfeather taking us?" he asked. I shrugged, trying to look doubtful.  
"The Tortuga, maybe?" I ventured. Chris scoffed a bit.  
"Right- I wish..." Now my brother was being sarcastic. Greyfeather circled back to us, and with a "Kaack"told us to keep up.  
"Come on, let's keep following Greyfeather. She's our only chance of getting back to the Tortuga, and everyone's probably wondering where we are." We kept running after the falcon at top cheetah speed! After running through various termite mounds and suchlike, my suspicions were confirmed.  
The Tortuga was within eyesight!  
Chris stopped in front of me, blocking my view of the giant turtle-shaped vehicle.  
"Martin, I already told you- there's _no way _Greyfeather could lead us back to the Tortuga," he snapped.  
"No, look!" I turned Chris around so he could see it. His jaw dropped.  
"Wha-? How is that possible?" my very befuddled brother exclaimed.  
"_Blackfire," _I muttered under my breath.  
"Sorry? I didn't hear you bro."  
"I didn't say anything." I felt bad lying to my brother, but I had to keep Blackfire a secret. "C'mon, let's go- it's getting late." I took off.  
"HEY! No fair! Wait up!"  
When I got to the Tortuga, I held out my forearm again for Greyfeather, but she didn't land. Then I noticed- I was still in my cheetah suit. Once I deactivated it Greyfeather landed as expected.  
"Did Blackfire ask you to help us?" I asked. Greyfeather merely tilted her head and made a 'kree' of confusion.  
"Blackfire, you, help, us," repeated I, pointing first to the falcon, then to myself. This time, Greyfeather flapped her wings and screeched happily.  
"Why's Greyfeather flapping her wings, Martin?" The falcon started and jumped on my shoulder.  
"Oh, sorry, Greyfeather!" Chris had arrived. Upon seeing it was only Chris, Greyfeather calmed down. But suddenly, an ENORMOUS shadow passed over us!  
"Wha- what was that?" I shouted, startled."  
"HEY, GUYS!" Whoa! That voice sounded exactly like Koki! I looked up, and to my surprise, I saw Jimmy Z. flying over us on a hang glider!  
"Hiya!" called Aviva, hang gliding with the other two. Greyfeather flew off my shoulder and began to chase Jimmy.  
"Yo, Jimmy! You got a peregrine falcon on yer tail!" my brother called out. Jimmy panicked at those words.  
"HELP!" Koki and Aviva landed beside us while J.Z. flew all over the place. The rest of us were laughing wildly. Greyfeather was right above Jimmy's glider. She got a talon ready...  
"EEEYAAAH! Help me!" I heard a ripping sound, and looked up to see Jimmy falling quite fast.  
"Guys! Jimmy's falling!" Chris sounded worried. I looked closer and saw that Greyfeather had ripped the fabric of the hang glider's wings.  
"Aim for that tree!" The only reply to Aviva's instructions was a scream and a loud crashing sound. We ran towards the tree, to see Jimmy's glider, and by that extent Jimmy, stuck between the tree's branches.  
"Need help?" I joked. Jimmy gave me a glare.  
"Not funny, Martin." I began to climb the tree to free Jimmy, Chris asking if he was alright in the background. Our little attempt to help Jimmy out was momentarily interrupted by Chris realizing he was still his cheetah suit, so he deactivated. As soon as he reached the branch I was sitting on, we set to work untangling Jimmy.  
As if by a spur-of-the-moment urge, I asked Chris "What happened to Greyfeather?"  
"I honestly have no idea," was his reply. We kept moving branches out of the way to get to Jimmy's torn hang glider, when-  
"KREE!"  
"Chris, that sounded like Greyfeather!" Jimmy gave us a confused look, his face beet-red from dangling upside-down.  
"Who's Greyfeather?" he asked, sounding really woozy. I started climbing higher up the tree while answering.  
"The falcon that chased you." Jimmy said something unintelligible. When I reached the top of the tree, my suspicions were confirmed.  
"KREE!" Yup, it was Greyfeather, alright. She ruffled her wings, and pointed down towards the savannah with the tip of her wing. I looked in the direction she pointed, and what I saw... was Blackfire. When I looked back, I saw a large spot of red on Greyfeather's wing. Blood! I scooped up the bird and dropped back down, to the very bottom of the tree.  
"Chris, could you see to Greyfeather? I think she's hurt from her stunt with Jimmy." Jimmy looked devastated... well, as devastated as you can look while red-faced and upside-down.  
"Oh, no... poor Greyfeather! Don't worry about me, guys, I'll try to get out by myself, you get that falcon's wing fixed," he said. Chris and I walked away from him and back to the Tortuga.  
As we walked, Greyfeather showed me a Look in her eye... a Look saying that she hurt herself on purpose.  
"You smart little falcon, you." The Draco lizards were going to have to wait. If a falcon's wing is damaged, they can't properly fly. Therefore, they can't hunt, and eventually, well, they'll die of starvation.  
Chris came up behind me "The Draco lizards will have to wait." Chris said, speaking my thoughts.  
_I hate it when he does that... _ "Aviva! Where's the first-aid kit?" Chris was running through the basement in a frantic search for the first-aid kit, so I put Greyfeather down on a tree perch in the middle of the main room. When Aviva found it she came over and took out the ACE bandage  
Greyfeather hopped down off her perch and over to Aviva. "Wow, it seems like she's a trained bird, not a wild one," she said, chuckling. I volunteered to hold her wing. Gingerly, I picked up Greyfeather's injured wing, causing her to let out a pained caw.  
"It's okay, Greyfeather. We're just going to wrap a bandage around your wing," I told her. When Aviva began to wrap the bandage around the poor thing's wing, she made an odd noise, but nothing more.  
"There! All done!" Aviva announced after a minute. Slowly, I let go of Greyfeather's wing, which she flapped tentatively, as though testing it out.  
"Kree!" The bird hopped back to her perch and flailed her good wing.  
"I think she's hungry.." Woah! When'd Jimmy get back here?  
"GAH! Jimmy, how'd you escape the hang glider wreck?" I exclaimed, completely surprised.  
"...pocket knife." Jimmy leaned back. "To say it again, I think that Greyfeather's hungry. I know I am." Koki came into the vehicle.  
"Jimmy, you're always hungry. I think we've got some chicken leftover. You think Greyfeather'll like chicken?" As Jimmy, Chris, and Aviva went into the kitchen to find their quarry, I took Greyfeather and her tree perch into my room.  
"We're gonna see Blackfire," I whispered to her.  
"Kree."


	4. Secrets

~4~

"Kree!" I felt Greyfeather's beak rub against my cheek. "Kree!"  
"What d'you want, Greyfeather? It's midnight- _oh._ It's time to meet Blackfire, right?" Greyfeather hopped off me and over to the table where Chris and I kept our stuff. She grabbed my Creature Pod in her beak. I hopped out of my hammock and grabbed the device. "Thanks!" Holding out my arm made the bird hop on to it, and I quickly scribbled down a note telling Chris that "I went out for a walk with Greyfeather- she kept waking me up." I placed the note in my hammock.  
"Okay. Let's go see Blackfire."  
As we stepped out into the cold night air, I heard a twig crack. I looked over to the falcon upon my shoulder.  
"Kree," she called softly. I saw a head pop up out of the tall grass.  
"You came," Blackfire said. She padded her way over to me.  
"Of course I did." The leopard looked at Greyfeather, and asked "Did you get them to stay?"  
"Yes." Blackfire nodded, content.  
"Let's go up in a tree- I'd feel better there." When we got to the base of the nearest tree, Greyfeather bounced back off my arm and onto a branch. Blackfire jumped into the tree with great ease.  
"Ugh, why am I the only one who has to CLIMB the tree?" I muttered.  
"Need help?" Blackfire called.  
"No, I'm fine."  
I reached for another branch.  
"How did you get your little group to stay here, anyway?" the leopard asked when I reached the top of the tree.  
"Greyfeather did a stunt and hurt her wing," I replied.  
"Good. I knew the falcon would come up with a way to help. Anyways- the reason I need your help is because of poachers. It used to be they had reasons for poaching. Now, they just kill animals for fun." I stiffened, and immediately, a horrible feeling came over me. It was like I couldn't breathe.  
"WHAT? For FUN?" Blackfire narrowed her eyes and nodded gravely. "This is horrible..."  
"Yes. I believe it's time to reveal myself to your friends. Go back and get your brother. I'll be waiting in the long grass for you." Greyfeather hopped back on my shoulder as I jumped out of the tree. I looked back to the leopard. With a nod from her I ran back to the Tortuga and my room. When I got there, I saw Chris still asleep, so I took my previously-written note and crumpled it, then dumped it into the wastepaper basket, then went over to Chris and shook him awake.  
"Chris! Chris, wake up. I wanna show you something." Chris rolled over.  
"Can'- _YAWN!-_ can' it wai' 'till m'rnin'...?" Translation: _Can't it wait until morning?_.  
"No. This can't wait," I answered. I grabbed his hammock and unceremoniously dumped him out of it.  
"OW! Martin! What was that for?" Chris whisper-yelled, repeating my words from earlier that morning.  
"No time to explain- just come with me!" I said, helping him up.  
"Oh, FINE." I led the way out of the Tortuga over to where Blackfire told me to meet her.  
"Martin, can you tell me where we're headed?" Chris asked.  
"Blackfire, we're here," I called out, rather than answering him. Blackfire came out of the grass and turn around, back to the tree. Chris and I followed behind her. When we got to the tree Blackfire was already climbing up the branches.  
"Martin, what's going on?" Chris asked me again.  
"Just climb." We saw Blackfire washing her paw at the time that we got to her. "Chris, meet Blackfire. Blackfire, Chris." Blackfire looked at me, and I gave her a small nod. "You may wanna hold on to a branch, Chris- just trust me bro," I warned.  
"Of course I trust you." He grabbed a branch next to him. Blackfire turned her head to him, cleared her throat... and spoke.  
"Chris, I need your help."  
Like I before him, my brother nearly fell out of the tree.  
"What the...? How is that...? Martin? Did you..?" Ah. I should've expected Chris would be unable to form a complete sentence.  
"It's a long story, but yes: I knew."  
"Um... okay. How can we help?" Chris looked like he was in some strange dream.  
"I want to teach the poachers a lesson." I shared a look with my brother. Blackfire continued. "I heard pitiful noises coming from one of the tents the poachers had. It sounded as though they were from lion cubs. They seemed starved. They didn't even have the strength to form WORDS." I was shocked into speechlessness. Chris looked like his dream had become a nightmare. After what felt like forever, I came to my senses.  
"And where do we come in..?"  
Blackfire looked from me to Chris.  
"That is for you to decide." She jumped down to a lower branch and looked back at us. "I will help you tell your friends." With that, she slunk away, into the deep darkness. Chris and I jumped out of the tree and followed Blackfire in silence. When the leopard stopped, she was right outside the Tortuga. She said nothing to us, just flicked her tail, as though she were irritated with us. I sat down with Chris.  
"So. How do we go about doing this?" I asked, breaking the silence.  
"Do what?" Chris replied.  
"Tell the team about Blackfire, of course."  
"Well, I could go in, and you could tell them in the morning," Blackfire suggested.  
"Naah, they'd wonder about how a leopard got in. How about you just wait out here?" Chris agreed with my sentiment, saying "I heard that Aviva was coming out early to hang-glide again."  
"Okay, then. I'll stay in the open, where she can see me," Blackfire said, curling up. When she was fast asleep, I noticed something- where had Greyfeather gone? When I asked Chris, he shrugged.  
"I don't know- she was sitting on Blackfire's shoulder, last I checked."  
"Kree!" My head popped up from the bush I was searching through.  
"Hey- that sounded like Greyfeather! Quick, inside the Tortuga!" Chris and I ran into the machine to see Greyfeather hopping around in our room.  
"Let's see if we can get some sleep," I decided. Chris shook his head.  
"Sleep? I can't even _think _about sleeping- I feel too much like an owl."  
I picked up Greyfeather and put the bird on her little tree perch before taking a look at the clock.  
"Wow- it's six in the morning! We were out there for a long time!"  
"I completely agree- let's eat breakfast." Without waiting for a response, Chris walked to the kitchen.


	5. Important Notice of I'm Sorry

_**To all who read and enjoy this fanfic:**_

_**The original author of the story, Paw is banned from FanFiction by her parents, and so I am posting this to say that Blackfire is temporarily discontinued- on hiatus, you may say. I apologize profusely, but there is a note of hope.**_

_**I may post the story in Paw's absence. Please be patient, as we are going through a complicated series of events.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**Kit**_


	6. And We're Back! (Sorta)

**Hey everyone~! It's me Paw! I will restart the Blackfire story and I need a Beta. Please PM me if you want the job. Kit and I will decide who is going to beta once we have enough PMs. We'll tell you if do or do not get the job. When you PM for a beta request, fill this out in your note, please:**

Your username:  
Why you want to beta this story:  
Your beta specialties:  
List of stories and categories you prefer:  
Additional notes:

Hello also! This is Kit speaking. I've tuned in to inform you all that I've flown the coop and moved to a new account. If you wanna chat with me, look for an author named Kit Lupin. Alternatively, supposing that you have a DeviantART account, you can find me there, under the username of Kit-The-Wolfy. Vaya con Dios!


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